[imText1]While talks of Shinuiju Special Zone reestablishment is going around, a ‘forced residents removal’ order is peaking curiosity.
In South Korea, the government cannot instruct the forced removal of residents, except for when states of emergency such as epidemics, war, and convulsions of nature break out. However, the North Korean government can do it. If one day the Party orders that, ‘You, go and live with someone who lives in a certain district’, which is called the ‘living together’ order, you have to go and live with the complete stranger. ‘Expulsion’ and ‘forced removal’ are worse than the ‘living together’ order.
Article 5 (75) of the North Korean constitutional law expressly indicates ‘the people have freedom of residence and travels. Yet, the ‘expulsion’ and the ‘forced removal’ that the government ordered are carried out regardless of the residents’ will.
How the ‘Expulsion’ and the ‘Forced Removal’ Orders are Distinct from Each Other?
The ‘expulsion’ has the main characteristic of summary execution without a given time. The main objects of the expulsion are △ Objectors against the Kim Jong Il regime △ Doers of damage to the Kim Jong Il authority △ General lawbreakers. The people in question are executed or confined, while their families are expelled. The purposes of these measures are to show the strictness of the law to the people and to isolate the expelled families from of their original classes.
On the other hand, the ‘forced removal’ is given a time. If general living areas are determined to be No.1 events(ones related to Kim Jong Il and Kim Il Sung) region or where foreigners can influence, people who are ones of mean birth, have a wicked attitude, and act improperly are sorted out and removed to other regions by force.
In the case of a one-way road or a villa to be built for use only by Kim Jong Il, the regions around them become event districts. If that happens, the people classified as wicked residents living within a several km radius are removed and only principal masses are introduced into. For example, when ‘Kim father and son’s villa’ was built at Songhanli in Shinuiju, the people classified as wicked residents living around the villa were removed. In the case of Changseung villa, wicked residents living at Yaksuli were forcibly removed to Dongchang district or Cheonma district.
Even if the residents are not categorized into the wicked, if their houses do not have a good appearance, then they come to be the objects of the ‘forced removal’ order. Special Administration regions or areas near the highways are the very cases. This is because the North Korean government thinks that it impairs ‘the image of the republic’, in case foreigners see the shabby houses. For instance, in 1995 when Inoki (a Japanese professional wrestler) visited Pyeongyang, one thousand houses around the Pyongyang-Hyangsan Highway were demolished. Principal masses were moved into the group houses built after that on the identical spot.
The expelled residents who have no houses are ordered to ‘live together’ in houses of their coworkers. When an expelled person is A, and his coworkers is B, then until A’s house is completed, A should live with B. B should allow A to use a bigger room as the bedroom and a cell right next to it as the kitchen. B should stay in a small room with his wife, children and parents. Because of the house matter, the relationship between A and B is estranged like a ‘master and servant’ relationship.
There is never national compensation for the damage generated from the ‘expulsion’ and the ‘forced removal’ orders. Even though residents rebuild (after demolishing the former shabby house, building a new house on the same land) their houses, if they get the ‘removal’ order, they can not claim ownership of their houses and lands except for household goods. It is because all lands and houses are registered to be owned by the government.
